International climate finance well-invested

State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth and the British Minister for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey gave a press conference during the climate negotiations in Lima. Picture: BMUB/Melanie Klußmann.

Germany and the UK will support ambitious climate mitigation projects in Burkina Faso, Peru, Thailand and Tajikistan from 2015. State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry Jochen Flasbarth and UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Davey announced this during the climate change talks in Lima. The projects will be financed by funds from the NAMA Facility. This programme is geared towards supporting ambitious climate mitigation measures in developing countries and emerging economies to significantly reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Denmark and the European Commission have announced that they will also become donors to the facility, increasing the amount of funding available for a third call in the run-up to COP 21 in Paris.

Funding for Burkina Faso will go to sustainable energy production from biomass. To counteract ongoing deforestation in this west African country, energy crops are to be cultivated sustainably and used more efficiently, and the use of sustainably produced biomass is to be made economically viable. In the best case, this project can achieve around 40 percent of the national emission reduction target. In Peru the funding will help expand the local public transport networks in several towns and cities, including the use of new, low-emission buses and trains. In Thailand, the NAMA Facility will support the production of highly efficient refrigeration and air conditioning technologies both for private households and industry. These technologies will be used domestically and exported. This measure will enable Thailand’s greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced by 0.6 percent per year, thus contributing significantly to reaching the country’s mitigation target. The project in Tajikistan aims to improve forest conservation and reforestation, and to establish sustainable management of forests.

UK Secretary of State Ed Davey expressed his delight with the outcome of the second call of the NAMA Facility: "The NAMA Facility now has a strong portfolio of projects covering a wide variety of geographic regions and sectors. This demonstrates the strong commitment and momentum for ambitious mitigation actions across the globe and in the different sectors."

To maintain this momentum, the two ministries announced the intention to provide additional funds and to hold a third NAMA Facility call in 2015. As State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth commented, the third call marks the beginning of the NAMA Facility 2.0: "We are glad to see that the positive experience so far has not only inspired Germany and the UK to provide additional funds to the NAMA Facility; it has also attracted other donors - Denmark and the European Commission - whom we warmly welcome."

In total, the donors envisage contributions of EUR 85 million for the third NAMA Facility call, which is a substantial increase in the amount available compared to the previous calls.

Governments and delivery organisations were invited to submit their project proposals to the Facility between April and July 2014. The Facility received a large number of project proposals from a wide range of countries and covering a wide variety of sectors including agriculture, energy efficiency, forestry, renewable energy and transport. This demonstrates the momentum for climate action around the world. All projects are evaluated against rigorous selection criteria to ensure that the most ambitious and promising NAMAs (Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions) are selected for funding. In the context of international climate change negotiations, NAMAs are considered to be voluntary climate action measures taken by developing countries that are embedded within their plans for national development. The NAMA Facility was established in 2012 by Germany and the UK, who have jointly contributed EUR 120 million of funding to support developing countries implement ambitious climate action measures and to contribute to achieving the necessary emission reductions at global level.